Embattled U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is looking for a clear policy win as he fights to stay in office.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) wide-ranging “national conversation” on growing up in the online world wrapped up less than three weeks ago and attracted more than 116,000 submissions, a level of engagement not seen since the then-Conservative government proposed legalizing gay marriage back in 2012.
89 percent of parents who responded backed a “legal requirement for social media services to be a minimum age of access,” according to a transparency release last week.
As recently as Tuesday, DSIT official William Jones told a Family Online Safety Institute conference in Brussels that a decision hadn’t been made on exactly what a social media ban for children would look like.
The timeframe has left officials with little time to iron out the details and sets the stage for a furious lobbying blitz over the next month as tech companies scramble to secure carve-outs from forthcoming restrictions.
The two people cited above who were briefed by DSIT and No. 10 said the government hadn’t yet established which social media platforms will be covered.